


About Time

by Lire_Casander



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-06
Updated: 2013-09-06
Packaged: 2017-12-25 19:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/956753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lire_Casander/pseuds/Lire_Casander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>OWLS are approaching, and Hermione keeps on studying too hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	About Time

The library was empty when Hermione entered. _Exactly what I need,_ she thought. _Nobody to bother me while I try to do some research._

She dropped her schoolbag onto the floor and picked one book from the second shelf at her right, opening it and having a glimpse at the contents before putting it on a table nearby. She wandered through the different shelves, taking a book here and there, flicking through pages, ruling out some copies and choosing others. In the end, she had a pile of books in front of her, high and scary to anyone who wasn't Hermione Granger. She smiled, crunched her bones and sat down in front of the printed papers.

*-*-*-*-*

_Four hours later_

Ron had been wandering around the castle for hours without any success in his quest for Hermione. He had looked everywhere, except in the girls' room, but he hadn't found a trace of the young witch. Out of ideas, he decided to go to the only place he hadn't looked in, _but, seriously, not even Hermione would have come to the library on a Saturday night..._

The third table in the library proved him wrong.

Spread onto the wooden surface, surrounded by books of all kinds, shapes and sizes, was Hermione Granger, dozing off with a quill still on her hand and a crumpled paper underneath her nose. Feeling a sudden surge of tenderness before the scene unfolding in front of him, Ron knelt down besides her and pulled at the parchment the girl had pinned.

She was beautiful under the dim light in the solitary library, or so thought a surprised Ron, _well, maybe it was something latent inside of me - wait, have I just thought the word 'latent'? Too Hermione-ish for me..._

He spent a few seconds just watching her sleep before making up his mind and deciding to wake her. "Hermione," he said in a soft voice, "Hermione, you should go to sleep in a bed, it's not healthy to stay here... Hermione..."

When she opened her eyes, his heart skipped a beat; she was indeed beautiful, with her curly hair around her face like a weird halo. "Hi, Ron," she said sleepily. "What... where... oh! I guess I fell asleep... What time is it?"

"Nearly eight, Madame Pince is about to seethe when she sees you in here, sleeping. You should go to bed if you're so tired."

"Okay..." She was half-asleep again, Ron noticed. "But what are you doing up here too?"

"Oh, me? I was looking for you, of course."

"Oh." Hermione fell fully asleep again on her own notes. Ron understood then that she would not walk up towards the girls' dormitories; he looked around to make sure they were alone and passed an arm around her waist, helping her to stand up. He summoned up Hermione's things and shrunk them in his pocket before walking out of the library in an almost impossible mission - escaping Madame Pince's hawk-like watch was always difficult, but it wasn't his first time.

Walking up the Gryffindor Tower proved to be harder than expected, but being a brave lion with a beautiful damsel in his arms gave him the strength to keep on climbing. Once past the Fat Lady, he realized the only flaw in his almost perfect plan - he couldn't go up to the girls' room, so instead Hermione would have to sleep in the common room, which was empty - everyone was studying like crazy in their rooms, or enjoying the last trip to Hogsmeade. Sighing, Ron took out all her things from his pocket and summoned a gold and red plaid blanket.

He laid her down on a couch and covered her with the blanket, tucking some loose strands of brown hair behind her ear. She looked peaceful, without her worried frown when she thought about the exams, which she did all the time; Ron wondered when he had started to care about Hermione that deeply. For sure, he cared about her, but before it was just like Harry - his best friend, like his sister. Only that he felt things for Hermione he didn't feel for Ginny; just like when she was dancing with Krum - oh, how he had hated his Quidditch hero back then! - and when he looked at her in the dim light of the hall back at The Burrow, and when she hugged him after a long summer, and when he heard her admonishing everyone, him included - that dreadful 'Ronald' was suddenly like a symphony of colours to his ears because it meant he was worth her time and attention.

 _Could it be...? Could I be...? Of a bookworm? Of... her?_ he thought, looking down at her in amazement. _It is... I'm... I've... Merlin, I've fallen for her!_ After such astonishing discovery, Ron looked at her again under a new light. She seemed so small, alone in that couch, fast asleep. _I cannot leave her here on her own... No one's going to come here tonight, they're all too busy... What could happen if I lie here with her?_

Giving in to his emotions over his reason, he lifted the blanket and slipped under it, covering both of them once again. He tentatively passed an arm over Hermione's waist and held her in place; she tossed and turned a little and ended with her head on Ron's chest. He breathed in shakily, trying not to wake her again.

His eyelids suddenly felt heavy, and he gave in to the need of closing his eyes. With a last glance towards his newly-found love, he fell asleep.

A few hours again, Harry Potter went back to the common room after a rough evening writing at Umbridge's office only to find his two best friends curled up together in the couch in front of the fireplace. The tower was silent, everyone asleep in their beds. Smiling softly, Harry shook his head and walked upstairs with just a single thought in his mind.

_About damn time!_


End file.
